1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to communications systems utilizing network addresses such as uniform resource locators (URLs).
2. Background of the Related Art
The Internet is a global set of interconnected computer networks communicating via a protocol known as the Transmission Control Protocol and Internet Protocol (TCP/IP). The World Wide Web (WWW) is a fully distributed system for sharing information that is based upon the Internet. Information shared via the WWW is typically in the form of HyperText Markup Language (HTML) pages. A display screen presented to a user via, e.g., a browser program, may comprise a singe HTML page or a plurality of HTML pages running within respective frames. An exemplary browser program comprises the Netscape® Navigator browser provided by Netscape Communications Corporation of Mountain View, Calif.
Uniform resource locators (URLs) provide a coherent method of uniquely identifying resources on the Internet, such as HTML pages and other resources. A URL uniquely specifies the location of a resource on the Internet by identifying the type of server making the object available (e.g., www, ftp, Gopher, and the like), the address of the resource and, if necessary, the path name or identifier of the resource or object within the server providing the resource. Essentially, any object that a server wishes to make available may be defined in terms of a respective URL.
Browser programs and other programs may be used to store logical addresses of HTML pages (and other resources) within data structures commonly known as bookmarks. Bookmarks typically comprise a list of uniform resource locators (URLs) which uniquely specify the location of a resource such as an HTML page. Unfortunately, some URLs may not be effectively bookmarked. For example, web pages generated using a common gateway interface (CGI) typically cannot be bookmarked, though the base entry page of a CGI-generated web page may be bookmarked. It is also difficult to bookmark framed web pages.
Increasingly, servers are providing non-static web pages to clients accessing the information servers using, for example, browsers. That is, the web pages received by a client's browser are often generated in response to the client's request for such a web page. The web page provided to the client is not associated with a URL. Rather, the web page provided to the client is simply an HTML object instantiated for use by the browser to convey information to the client. Such an instantiated object is typically impossible to bookmark, since there is no static URL associated with the object, i.e., the object (doesn't yet exist). The instantiated object is provided by the information server in response to user interaction with the information server. Thus, to retrieve the same object, the client must interact with the server in the same manner to cause the information server to instantiate the same object.
Therefore, a need exists in the art for a method, an article of manufacture, a system and a data structure enabling the “bookmarking” or resolving of CGI pages, frames and other objects typically considered non-resolvable using standard URLs.